"It's a kind of restart for us because we are so much stronger in terms of depth and quality within the group," said Pardew.

"We have got Yohan (Cabaye) coming back, and he's like a new player; Debuchy has come into the building and settled quickly, (Sylvain) Marveaux is playing well, and then the new boys on top of that.

"The loss of Demba, I think, really impacted on us. You only have to look at the goals scored and you would have to say it has.

"We have had to react to that and hopefully, we have reacted in the right way."

The presence of captain Fabricio Coloccini is another boost for Pardew, who played down an open letter from the Argentina international to San Lorenzo in which he apparently expressed regret at not being able to join them this month because of personal problems.

"When you interpret one language from another, while the words can look the same, the interpretation can be slightly different and I think the interpretation of that was slightly lost," Pardew said.

"It's his hometown club, of course, and he's got friends and family there, and I think he just wanted to say, 'Thanks for your offer of help if I needed it'.

"Unfortunately for them, it hasn't happened. Fortunately for us, he remains our captain and committed to the cause, make no mistake about that."